[KingEdward1st]

I've been on holiday all week! Back to normal tomorrow im afraid!

Well, you've got a lot done in the time you have had off. What can i say apart from congratulations on a fantastic looking layout and long may it continue to develop!

[87 101]

Its amazing what diffrence putting the clock back an hour makes. Now when I get home its dark and cold and depressing!! Conscenquently not much has happened on the railway during the week. Yesterday I glued on some more evergreen strips to the station building just need one more pack to complete. Last night was mainly wasted by me trying to build a barrier from brass. The idea was to attach the bottom of the barrier skirt to a brass tube running under the trackbed. This was then attached to the top section via small brass rods so that when the brass tube was turned the skirt actualy pushed the barrier up. In thorey this would work but building it was a pain. The bottom bar was cut from a sheet of brass then aprox 50x 1mm holes were drilled along its length. For the top section I used a U section of brass that had brass rod soldered across again aprox 50 pieces. The top and bottom were then attached together with some small brass rod. The main problem with the barrier was that it didn't fold up properly. Also when in the upright position it looked a bit big!! So now im working on plan B that is to have four barriers two on each side. Before I spend any more time building the barriers however I think it would be a good idea to build the lifting mechinism first as if I can't get this working the barriers will be modeled in the down position. More on this over the next few weeks.......

Today I decided to tidy up the layout. Once all the junk was removed and the debries hovered off I laid some balast. The balast used was from my local pet shop and is actualy intended for use in fish tanks but at £3.50 for a BIG bag I coulden't resist! The balast still needs sticking down this will be done using clear varninsh as tested outside last year. Once stuck the trackbed will be given a coat of stone effect paint....





Also today the local council built another road bridge over the railway.......







The platform bases were given a coat of brick red and the top part of the station roof has had brown undercoat applied.....





With all the wet weather we have had I have noticed a slight leak in the clear roof. Some water has dripped down onto the prision and turned the roof green looks quite cool actualy! Anyway to prevent any more damage I have fitted some drip trays just above the area that will deflect any more water down the fence and away from the railway. I mentioned last week that woodham station took a beating in the high winds. The buildings were removed and repainted with brick red masonary paint. The footbridge has also been rebuild and now sports OHLE protection boards........





The footbridge still needs the painting finishing off so this should keep me busy over the next week!

[87 101]

This weekend work on the layout has moved indoors. First I found a new use for the old dining room table. As access over the back of the layout was difficult the table has been recycled into a raised platform........

The new access has now allowed me to add some scenery around the 'hole in the wall'.......



In the centre of the layout I have added some new baseboards for the hillside behind the canal section......



The baseboards feature a removerable section to allow access to the lower level for maintaince.....

[Stufiley]

This just keeps getting better. Thanks for this indepth insite into your evolving layout. Are you having an open day at any time?

[87 101]

Would like to have an open day sometime next year.

Last night after finishing off insulating the garage roof I decided to make a start on the balasting. I have used some fish tank gravel that I got from my local pet shop. The size of the gravel looks ok for 00 gauge and at £3.50 for a very large bag it would have been rude not too! Anyhow once painted with stone fleck paint it looks ok. The balast has been stuck down using clear varnish. I have found this works realy well and have used this methord outdoors without any problems. Heres a pic after a quick spray with paint.......

Once I had balasted the track attention turned to the water in the canal. Over the years I have never realy got the hang of modeling water until now. The base of the canal is a piece of plastic sheet that is painted black on the underside. The top has been given a coat of varnish then I got a bit creative with a cable tie! As the varnish was drying I used the cable tie to shape the ripples around the boat. To speed up the drying time I used a hair dryer. This actualy shaped the ripples by itself! Heres a few pics of the result......

[KingEdward1st]

That water looks superb! And the ballasting looks great! This is quite a huge layout, so is there any chance of a track plan please?

[87 101]

Im working on that one Jake! I have a copy of xtrakcad on my PC just havn't figured out how to use it yet. In the meantime here's a basic outline of the railway. This was the origanal plan when I rebuilt it last year and although the quality is'nt that good it will give an idea as to how the inside and outside bits fit together.......

[KingEdward1st]

It looks mighty impressive and kind of gives an idea now how all this inside stuff links with the outside.

If you want a good bit of software that is really easy to use can I reccomend 'AnyRail'?

http://www.anyrail.com/index_en.html

It is rediculously easy and gives some great results!

Try the demo and more than likely you will buy it. Trust me - it is that good!

Xtracad or what ever it is, is confusing and hard to use if you ask me.

[87 101]

Thanks for that link Jake. Downloaded the software and it works great. Just need to buy the full version now as the trial version only allows 50 track sections! Track plan will be posted in due course.

[KingEdward1st]

Thanks for that link Jake. Downloaded the software and it works great. Just need to buy the full version now as the trial version only allows 50 track sections! Track plan will be posted in due course.

Glad you like it. It should work great!

[87 101]

Ok guys the wait's finally over...... Here's the trackplan of the indoor section......

[kdruthless]

I dont normally go for modern image stuff, but this looks utterly brilliant. You've got me wanting an APT now. Thanks.

[87 101]

Ok im on call this weekend so that means being stuck around waiting for the phone to ring so to pass the time i've done a bit of rolling stock. As the layout is based on the WCML I thought it would be cool to feature some WCML stock so take a lima mk2 coach......

Cut away the window frames...

Looking a bit diffrent now.....

Any ideas yet.....?

How about a change of colour.....

Sorry this ones a bit blured but you get the idea....

Before I get shot by the rivet counters I know that the real coaches only have six windows, recessed doors, etc! The brake coach by the way has a driving position making this a push/pull pullman rake.

[Teleman]

Before I get shot by the rivet counters I know that the real coaches only have six windows, recessed doors, etc! The brake coach by the way has a driving position making this a push/pull pullman rake.

I thought they looked a little wrong glad you told us , saves me getting the book out .
They look good though ,

[87 101]

As promised here's a couple of better pics taken this morning. Today I will be finishing off these three and then converting another coach into a kitchen car. Should prove intresting!

[KingEdward1st]

Sorry, but I dont know a lot about these coaches? Are they made up or something that did happen? What ever they are they look great and ver nicely done. Nice work!

[will]

I was wondering that too. They look like Mk2s but slightly different. Well done on them anyway!

[KingEdward1st]

After some research I think they are Manchester Pullmans?

[87 101]

The coaches are based on the manchester pullmans. These ran from the mid sixties through to about 1985 when they were replaced with the mk3 stock. Here's a link to some pic's of the real ones.....
http://jdsrailway-photos.fotopic.net/c871102.html
Mine will be part of a push/pull set with the driving brake cab styled like a 312 emu!

[87 101]

Transfers arrived yesterday so got round to putting them on tonight......